Stories of women, youth and students / volunteers, interns and social entrepreneurs at work and leadership in Capacity building and innovations in rural community and sustainable development in India @ ViKAAS Dev SEVA Centres @ EduCARE India NGO

Friday, 15 April 2011

Girl Power!

Punjabi dancing at Girls Club, Mandeiran

There are currently two Girls Clubs being run in villages near to our centre in Adampur. The main goals of the Girls Clubs are to promote the empowerment of girls and women, endorse gender equality, improve self esteem, build leadership skills, provide education about various issues pertaining to health, the environment, and general life skills, and to supply a space for girls to discuss and share ideas, participate in recreational activities, and most importantly have fun!

In January of this year, intern Angie started up the Girls Club in Ramdaspur, and since her departure it has continued to be run successfully by interns Appoline, Krista, and Natalia. More recently, a new Girls Club was started in Mandeiran Town, and has so far had two successful meetings. The first meeting in Mandeiran Town was attended by approximately 15 girls between the ages seven to twenty three.

Girls thinking big

The meeting began by each girl introducing themselves to the group by stating their names, their interests, and their dreams. Next, everyone played a game of charades where each girl took a turn acting out different words such as ‘confidence, beauty, healthy environment, and pollution’ while the other girls had to guess what the word was. In both activities all of the girls participated enthusiastically. Afterwards, Natalia and Krista discussed with the girls what sort of activities they wanted to have in the Girls Club. Many girls provided their ideas and stated among the many answers that they wanted to clean up their village, improve the environment, talk about health related issues, play sports (as the boys often exclude them), and of course... dance Punjabi style!

A colourful first meeting

The following meeting was held the next week on the day of Vaisakhi. Natalia, Krista, and the girls first visited the village Gurdwara and then spent the rest of the time visiting some of the girl’s families in order to introduce themselves and the concept of the Girls Club. Next week, the activities for the Girls Club in Mandeiran shall commence with a friendly game of football planned between the girls and hopefully the boys. Until then, here are some pictures from this week’s meeting in Mandeiran Town.

Hey Fredericka! I totally agree, it is great that we are reaching out to these groups of young women and can educate and empower them!

As for Dosarka/Sotla, yes, at present Women's Empowerment is alive and kicking through 'Girls Club'. However, the group of girls are very young so the plan is to convert this current programme into an After School Programme, with a view to starting up another 'Girls Club' with a new group of teenage girls!

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We are a vibrant and determined NGO based in India. Since our establishment in 1994, we strive to generate prosperity in rural India. Currently, we are organising small scale projects / activities leading to integrated rural sustainable development in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan, contributing to local empowerment and global positive footprints. Our prime goals are to create and spread knowledge and awareness, and to educate, whilst engaging and capacity building within the local communities that we operate in towards sustainable development. Teamed with our dedicated volunteer-interns, our use of applied research, volunteer action and social entrepreneurship helps us to uphold our key principles that overall, promote sustainable development and a more considered approach to life in rural India.

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